Asim was born in a small village in England in 1868. The population was pretty evenly mixed between Muggles and magical families due to a magical manufacturing plant nearby, where Asim’s father (also named Asim) worked. His mother was a seamstress. The family was conservative and lived a quiet life. Asim was expected to work doing chores around the house as soon as he was able, and by six had taken on errands and chores around town to earn extra income. The following year, in 1874, his younger sister Karina was born. Her toddler tongue has trouble with his name, and so she called him “Ace,” which stuck throughout their childhood.
Asim did not display magic as a child, but this went almost unremarked on; aside from minor charms to help his mother with her seamstress work, the household was almost magic free. Neither of his parents had finished a Hogwarts education. It wasn’t until after his father’s death due to a factory accident in 1877 that Asim started displaying magic. He was angry at the factory, angry at the world, and angry at his mother, whose quiet, determined grief did not seem sufficient to the emotional young boy. In addition to having a few magical outbursts, Asim also began acting out in general. He stole a few small things around the village and vandalized a fence, eventually leading him to a series of run-ins with the village constable.
Luckily, the man had been a friend of Asim’s father and was not inclined to direct any severe punishment towards the boy. He went out of his way to provide direction and guidance to try and keep the boy on the straight-and-narrow. He also required that Asim attend the local parish sermons on Sundays — as a sort of community service for his crimes. The services are Muggle, and although Asim thought the ideas were sort of nice, they didn’t really seem applicable to him or his family.
In 1879 he was sent off to Hogwarts. His mother had no particular inkling that he would have a career which required any amount of education, but school seemed like the best way to keep the young boy out of trouble, and to ensure he stopped having magical outbursts when angry. The few supplies he had with him when he left for school were secondhand, and he was missing a good deal of what the letter said he ought to have, but he had his father’s (mostly unused) wand, which gave him something to start with. Asim immediately fell in love with the school, and with magic. He determined to do whatever he could to stay there and keep learning as long as possible.
At Christmastime he was invited to holiday with one of his new school friends, and during that break he was exposed to the magical church for the first time. Although not an immediate convert, he is intrigued by the church and starts to ask his friend a few questions here and there about theology.
Asim has his scholarship renewed for his second year, and his third. He works diligently over his summer breaks to be able to afford textbooks and school supplies. His mother is happy to have him out of trouble. During Asim’s third year when he was allowed access to Hogsmeade, he began attending services with his churchgoing friend, at first sporadically and then regularly, though he still considers himself mostly just curious, not devout. That changes in his fourth year, when Asim has a minor heart attack after receiving a failing grade on a paper. Desperate not to lose his scholarship, he prays for help — and passes the class with flying colors at the Christmas holiday. Having determined that this is proof of God’s divine intervention, he is now well and truly converted.
Following his conversion, Asim has a series of soul-searching sessions where he tries to determine his purpose in life. Keeping his scholarship for the sake of keeping magic prevalent is no longer good enough. Remembering the constable in his home village who saved him from going down the wrong path, and who first tried to get him interested in church, he decides to go into law enforcement. The more he turns the idea over in his mind the more he is certain it is the right choice, and he turns into the sort of person who capitalizes the word “Justice” when they write it on paper.
His mother is somewhat amazed by this change in her son and bemused by his new religion, but does nothing to deter him. He makes her proud by making prefect in his fifth year, which sort of fits the new persona he’s made for himself. He tries to share his faith with his family, but while they do nothing to discourage him from going to church neither his mother nor his sister are interesting in participating. Karina starts school in 1885, Asim’s seventh year. He encourages her to study hard and continue on scholarship as he did. She’s a very intelligent girl, so he’d confident she can do it.
After graduation Asim — or Adam, as he has decided to introduce himself moving forward — applies for the Auror training program. While waiting for NEWT scores and interview results to come out, he works for the Hogsmeade constabulary, and makes enough money to set himself up in something that might, charitably, be called a dwelling in the Hogsmeade slums.
He is accepted into the program and begins his first training year in September, still living in Hogsmeade. The first year passes uneventfully and Adam earns relatively high marks, and impresses at least one of his instructors with his strong work ethic and character. He writes to his mother and sister constantly, though they are not as frequent with their return letters. He interns through the summer and begins his second program year, which also passes uneventfully — until April, when he learns that Karina has dropped out of Hogwarts without warning in order to run off with an older beau. At only thirteen, Karina is convinced the older boy will marry her and make her very happy — but obviously that isn’t going to happen. Adam only learns that she’s left school via a frantic letter from his mother, asking for help tracking her down.
Adam approaches the head of the auror instruction program and asks for a temporary reprieve from studies, but, fearing to ruin his sister’s reputation and any chance she may have at a respectable future, will not give any specific details about why he needs to leave one month before the conclusion of the program. The instructor says he is free to go, but will not be able to return as a third year trainee if he does. Adam is aware of the policy regarding restarting the program and asks if he can go that route, but is told there is no guarantee; someone who has left the program once would be placed behind any new applicants, so he may not be able to continue at all.
Deciding to leave the program with no way of knowing what the future will hold is one of the hardest things Adam has ever done, but he prayed about it, and he knew it was the right decision. He leaves, and embarks on a little amateur detective quest to find his sister. It turns out not to be difficult at all, since a sixteen year old boy and a thirteen year old girl aren’t exactly criminal masterminds. He finds them quickly and convinces Karina to return home without much ado, since the honeymoon period had faded quite quickly when she realized what living with a man and being an adult, at the age of thirteen, would actually entail.
Despite being quite content to leave her would-be husband (luckily the two had not actually married, though they had planned to lie about Karina’s age at Gretna Green), Karina refuses to simply stay home and help her mother be a seamstress. Going back to Hogwarts is no longer an option, as playing hookey for a week has resulting in her losing her scholarship. With some creative phrasing (but not outright lies, which would be wrong), Adam manages to secure her a position at Blishwick’s School of Domestic Magic, and she promises not to run away this time. The fact that it’s located in Pennyworth gives Adam the opportunity to check up on her, which he promises to do frequently.
After reapplying to the auror program and being kept in suspense for what seems like a maliciously long time, Adam is finally allowed to return — as a first-year trainee. It’s painful to see his classmates go on to field work in their third year while he returns to basic studies, particularly since he missed only one month of classes, but everything happens for a reason and Adam is grateful just to be admitted back to the program. He excels in his classes (obviously; he’s already taken them all) and finds ways to go above and beyond outside the classroom as well.
The spring of 1889 sees him graduating from his first year of training, for the second time. Karina is still keeping her nose clean at Blishwick’s. His mother, eternally grateful for his intervention on behalf of his younger sister, has taken to finding articles of clothing that wealthier and better off patrons might be inclined to discard, patching it up, tailoring it, and sending it to him. He’s grateful for the help, and sends money home to help with Karina’s school fees and with basic household upkeep whenever he can.
Adam has an uneventful repeat second year, and begins seeking a mentor in 1890 so that he can (finally) get to his third year.
